Path of Exile, meanwhile, lets you figure out what gear to use yourself, depending on what build you've settled on. The cost of the convenience is the sense that you're following a script rather than making your own character. I often find myself dumping items I'd otherwise be excited to get my hands on, just because I don't want to sacrifice the bonus. Though it's undeniably more accessible, pushing players to specific gear sets erodes a lot of the joy that comes from hunting down great loot. The WIP skill trees that we've seen are a lot easier to digest than PoE's, but Blizzard is also experimenting with a passive skill tree that sits below the active one, letting you give your character general upgrades that aren't specifically tied to your class. The good news is that it might be heading in that direction. As much as I love Path of Exile's skill grid, it's impossible to effectively navigate without lots of preparation, and I've come to completely rely on a third-party app to help me design my builds. My hope is for Diablo 4 to find a middle ground.
![path of diablo single player path of diablo single player](https://i.stack.imgur.com/NrhDR.gif)
This is not to say that Diablo 3 hasn't left me tweaking and testing to create the most devastating builds, but it always feels like I'm going down well-trodden paths instead of charting my own course. It will be hard for me to go back to anything less ambitious.ĭiablo 4 shouldn't try to match the complexity of Path of Exile-it might be nice to play an ARPG that doesn't come with maths homework again-but it could certainly do with trying to capture some of the tantalising breadth of Path of Exile's possibilities. The trinity of active skills, passives and gear is absurdly elaborate, turning nurturing your character into an adventure that will take you all across the daunting map of passive skill nodes. If you're remotely interested in experimenting with character builds, theorycrafting and getting stuck into a lot of numbers, then there's no ARPG that can compete with Path of Exile. Make character progression its own adventure Just a few obstacles that can't be solved with a sword, and which encourage teamwork, would go a long way to making me want to play with other humans. These can be enjoyed entirely on your own, but I quite fancy the idea of solving some dungeon conundrums with my smarter friends. Path of Exile, for instance, features a few trap-infested puzzle areas. There are ways to make co-op more engaging outside of combat, too. That's also the place where people are more likely to make a real effort to work together.
![path of diablo single player path of diablo single player](https://assets.gamepur.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/09125918/Diablo-2-Resurrected-Alpha-Summoning-Circle-850x478.jpg)
![path of diablo single player path of diablo single player](https://storage.googleapis.com/wzukusers/user-31817529/images/5aa598e331d7dj4VhTIC/path-of-diablo-druid-normal-worldstone-keep.png)
Multiplayer features like camps and events suggest the possibility for encounters that demand communication and team tactics, but I hope that's also replicated in the less open multiplayer, where you're just on a trip into a dungeon with a few mates. If Diablo 4 wants to make multiplayer a big part of the experience, it will need to make working together more attractive, which could also give it a leg up on Path of Exile.
![path of diablo single player path of diablo single player](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/5U6locuMKxg/maxresdefault.jpg)
Aside from that, it's never seemed like a distinct experience. I've never really felt encouraged to play with anyone else in either Diablo 3 or Path of Exile, and when I do, most of the fun comes from the simple fact that it's a laugh to carve a bloody swathe through a dungeon with your pals. If I can't escape the shared world, I certainly hope co-op is more memorable.